A Little Help From My Friends
by Benji The Vampire Confuser
Summary: The Mutant Registration Act is a fact of life. Violation means a life sentance in a concentration camp. Six friends discover each other's secret and find themselves on the wrong side of the Mutant Control Agency.


**Little Help From My Friends**

**By Benji: The Vampire Confuser**

_Based on situations created by Marvel Comics, and the god awful (but with a decent concept) Generation X TV Movie from years and years ago. Also a LARP I created and ran with my friends a few less years ago._

* * *

Everyone wants to be unique. But few are prepared to be really unique. To be different from everyone around you. To be feared, and hated because of it. Most don't have to deal with that. But some do. Some people are born different. I was. And so were my friends. So are many people on this planet. We're called Mutants. And we're the new minority.

Every race has had it's tough times. Native Americans lost their land. Africans were enslaved. The Celts had their entire culture outlawed. The Jews were herded into camps and exterminated. Then it was the Mutants' turn. When you manifested your powers, you had to register. So every one of your records and forms of ID state loud and clear, that you are a Mutant. A freak. I know what you're thinking. So what? That's not so bad. So people know you're a Mutant. Be proud of it.

Here's "So What"; there's no anti-discrimination laws for Mutants. Mutants have no civil right to equal employment opportunities, education, or health care. Mutants can't vote. Jim Crowe is alive and well in the U.S. He's just found a new perch. So, some hide it. No biggie right? Don't use your power and no one finds out. Well there's certainly enough motivation to hide yourself. Puberty, when your powers first manifest, is the only chance you get. If you're caught in violation of the Mutant Registration Act, you get arrested, stripped of any rights you have left, no trial, no lawyer, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, go directly to a concentration camp.

Yeah. That's right. A camp. Seems the Reich is still up and running too. I hear him and Jim Crow play poker every week. Okay, bad joke.

Anyway, let me introduce myself. I'm Michael Kelleher. An unregistered Mutant. Fight the Power. My power's not much to shout about really. Or maybe that's just my low self esteem talking. I can copy sounds. Big whoop. Okay so there's more to it than that. I didn't realize it was anything more than talent till the day I copied two sounds at once. That's a weird sensation in the throat, let me tell you. And to think I can't do tongue twisters. Fortunately, at the time I was the first one home everyday, and I had plenty of time by myself to practice. Later I figured out how to do what every ventriloquist only dreams of doing. Actually making my voice come from somewhere other than my mouth.

I went through High School, and most of college without ever meeting another Mutant. Only two people ever knew I was a Mutant. My little brother, and one of my Aunts. I felt really isolated, but at least I was free, and unrestricted.

My senior year of college is when everything changed. For one thing, I finally had a close knit group of friends. For another, I finally met another Mutant. My room mate. Weird huh? Tell me about it. He touched the TV in our room, and it shorted out and exploded. Kind of gave him away. Naturally I told him about my power.

Other than that, the majority of the year passed by with only the occasional Dawson's Creek moment. Until after Christmas break.

I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce my friends. Paul you already know. He's from Jersey. Which gives you an idea of what kind of driver he is. "God damnit! Stupid mother fucking Virginia drivers!"

"Paul, we haven't left the parking lot yet." I take this opportunity to apologize to Jersey Drivers. This might have just been a quirk of his, and not a reflection on the population as a whole.

As you've probably guessed, his power has to do with electricity. He creates this field around himself. The weird part is that every time he uses it, it uses some of his body mass. Fortunately he's kind of a big guy, so he has the mass to spare. He does eat a lot to keep his weight constant. And people wonder why he doesn't gain weight. Unfortunately, Paul's first time story is a bit More dramatic than mine. He was horsing around with his best friend, and just as a joke, he did that move from Street Fighter, or maybe it's Mortal Kombat. You know the one, where the guy makes a big ball of energy and shoots it at his opponent. Only Paul actually did it. He accidentally electrocuted his best friend. Some people call our powers gifts. Sometimes we disagree.

Then there's Casey Jones. His real name is Kenneth, but he calls himself Casey because his middle initial is C. Get it? K.C., Casey? Yeah, he thought it was clever too. 'Specially when he gets teased for it.

Every time I think about all this it still blows my mind. How all of us, Mutants, became friends, without ever knowing that each other were Mutants. Casey's got a real way with plants. A real green thumb. 'Specially if he stays out in the sun too long. Interesting little side effect.

Steve Ross can create fire, and control it, you know, pyro stuff. Paul's always asking him for a light. He gets teased endlessly about his girlfriend. She's a bit younger than he is. So far he's taken our abuse pretty well.

Then There's Trevor. His power still kind of confuses me. It's like super-speed, only different. Or something. He did try to explain it to me once. I still didn't get it. In fact I think I was more confused.

Kevin was the only normal human friend of mine that was there that night. I was always really grateful to him, because, even though none of us had told him about our powers, he accepted us, and helped us. He handled our nondisclosure really well. Particularly since Gwen hadn't told him.

Which brings me to the final member of the circle that was there for the great unmasking.

Gwenevere. Yeah, another name that gets made fun of a lot. Even among a group of Mutants she was unique. For one thing, nearly every guy in my circle of friends, including me, had nurtured a crush on her at one time or another. Another reason was that, while most mutants got their powers at puberty, she's had hers since birth.

"I see dead people."

I'd always wondered why Sixth Sense, and Stir of Echoes gave her the creeps so much. Okay so they gave me the creeps too, but even the mention of those movies sent a shiver down her spine. Problem is, the dead won't leave her alone. Popular among the living and the dead. Some people get all the luck.

Which finally brings me to that night. The night we all found out about each other. We never found out who reported us. Just that it was someone who found people wearing trench coats and pretending to be Vampires, suspicious. Oh, I forgot to mention. We played Masquerade.

That's actually how most of us got to know each other. Anyway, we'd gathered in the empty student center just to hang out. An activity we hadn't done for a while, except at parties. Most of us sat in the dining area while Paul stayed outside to finish his cigarette. Casey waited with him. That's when it began. When everything changed.

* * *

A black van pulled up in front of the building, not far from the two boys. From it, emerged a man in black army fatigues. He held a small black book in his hands, and appeared to be examining it carefully. He didn't notice them until he was almost upon them.

He stopped, surprised, and looked from them, to the book, and back again. What luck, he hadn't expected to find his targets right away. He'd thought he'd have to search for them first.

Paul didn't like it. He didn't know who this man was, or what he wanted. But it looked like he and Casey had something to do with it. Casey likewise was uneasy. He'd heard that the Mutant Control Agency dressed in black fatigues. But he hadn't used his power in front of anyone, how could the Agency have found him? The man approached them, and looked at them cautiously. "Excuse me," he said. "Are you Paul Forrest and Kenneth Jones?"

Paul considered lying, but decided against it. The man looked like he already knew the answer to the question. "Yeah." He said simply. Not offering any more information than he had to.

The Agent nodded as if that were the right answer. "I'm from the Mutant Control Agency." he said. "You've both been reported as possible Mutants."

Casey's immediate impulse was to flee, but a combination of caution and fear kept him where he was.

Paul however gave in to his first impulse.

"What!" he said incredulously. "What a crock of shit! Who reported us?"

"I'm not at liberty to divulge that information sir." The Agent said calmly.

"That's bullshit!" Paul railed on, covering his fear with anger. "I want to know who said we were Mutants!"

"Try to stay calm sir." The Agent said, beginning to lose patience. "We can get this cleared up very quickly, but only if you calm down and cooperate." He produced a small scanning device from his pocket. It had a green screen on it, with the outline of a hand.

"If you'll just place your hand on this scanning device sir we can have this all cleared up right away."

Paul's blood froze. If he allowed himself to be scanned, he would be revealed as a Mutant. "I'm not putting my hand anywhere!" he shouted, ready to knock the device from the man's hand. "I don't have to!"

"As a matter of fact you do sir." The Agent decided that he'd been nice, and that time was over. "Place your hand on the scanner. Now."

Paul glowered at the man, then slammed his hand down on the screen. He locked eyes with the Agent with a look that promised bad things to come.

Casey's eyes widened with shock when the device emitted a loud, piercing beeping noise. He'd been slowly easing his way towards the doors during the confrontation, and had almost reached them.

The Agent drew a handgun and pointed it at Casey, without taking his eyes off Paul. "Stay right where you are sir. Your turn." Casey froze, but Paul did not. He bolted for the door, and flung it open.

His attention now divided, the Agent was unable to stop them from entering the building. But they didn't get far before he stopped them.

* * *

Okay, imagine you're hanging out with your friends, just talking, not doing much, when suddenly two of your friends come running in, with some guy with a gun chasing them. Couple that with the natural paranoia of hiding what you are, the threat of being sent to a concentration camp. Then have someone hit you in the stomach with a sledgehammer. That gives you an approximate idea of how I felt just then.

The guy with the gun shouted for Paul and Casey to-

"Freeze! Paul Forrest, you have been found in violation of the Mutant Registration Act, and are therefore forfeit of all rights. You're under arrest." That's when he noticed the rest of us. Despite our mind numbing terror, or at least, my mind numbing terror, and the shock the rest were feeling at finding out that Paul was a Mutant, I think maybe we could have taken the guy.

That is, if his backup hadn't arrived at that moment. Four guys, all with assault rifles, soon had us covered. I think it might have been about then that my brain shut down temporarily.

I remember the guy with the handgun saying that we'd been reported as suspected Mutants, and that we had to be scanned. And I remember Kevin stepping forward and trying to fast talk the guy into something. I wasn't really paying much attention.

'Specially 'cause it was about then that I ran. Took me a few moments to realize that Gwen, Trevor, and Kevin were also running.

I didn't think about it, I wasn't in the mood for rational thinking. I think what snapped me out of it was the gunshot that I heard behind me. I stopped, instinctively I think, and started to look behind me. But Gwen grabbed my arm, and pulled me along. Reminding me that, yes, escape was a good idea.

We reached a back entrance to the building, and ran down the stairs to the lower level. I'm reminded of a quote from Bill Cosby;

"Shoom! Out! I never touched one step."

That's pretty much how I was feeling. I probably would have kept on running, but, once again, Gwen provided me with a momentary relapse of thought. I hid with them, in an empty, dark, downstairs hallway.

None of us said anything, we just sort of huddled there, in a semi-shocked state, just watching, wondering when they would come after us.

* * *

When the others ran, all hell broke loose. Or that was how it seemed to Steve, Casey and Paul, who did not get away with the others.

Paul collapsed on the ground as a bullet sent shooting pain through his leg. Casey stopped briefly, intending to help his fallen friend, but fear took over, and he kept going. Steve opted to hide, rather than flee. His options for concealment were rather limited. So he merely ducked into an adjoining room, and flattened himself against the wall, hoping they would assume he'd gone with the others, and not look for him there.

His hope was a futile one. An agent did indeed seek him out. And found him. Steve felt like a cornered animal, which was not far from the truth. And like all cornered animals, he fought. Steve did not have the physique that would mark him as a fighter, and the Agent underestimated both his skill and flexibility. Alas however, the Agent's experience and skill were greater than that of the young Mutant, who was still unused to using his powers in a combat situation. He fought hard, and bravely, but soon enough he was knocked out, cuffed, and taken into custody.

The minute Paul hit the floor, he feigned unconsciousness. He kept his eyes closed, tensely listening to the Agent getting closer. Silently, Paul erected his electrical field around himself, as a surprise for the Agent.

It was the man who'd first approached him, who now readied the handcuffs. But when he attempted to snap them on the seemingly comatose Mutant, his muscles spasmed with electricity, and he fell back.

"Careful!" he warned his fellow agents. "He's got some kind of electrical power!"

"Not a problem." Another said, pulling rubber gloves from his belt. "I'll handle it." He had no problems putting the manacles on the boy, and with the help of a similarly gloved fellow Agent, began bringing the boy to the van, being careful to let only their hands touch him.

Paul decided then that he'd pretended long enough. He whirled suddenly, throwing the Agents off balance, and sent a bolt of electricity into the face of the Agent on his right. The force threw the man off his feet, and slammed him into the vending machines.

Then, doing his best to ignore the pain in his leg, Paul threw the other Agent against a metal grate, the perfect conductor for Paul's electrical powers. The Agent convulsed, and finally fell. Paul was free. He turned, and began limping in the direction the others had taken.

* * *

It basically took Paul's arrival to get our brains working again. Casey'd kept running for a while, ignoring our hiding spot, and finally turned back. He ran into Paul, and helped him to where we were.

To put it simply, I was not handling all this well. My room mate had been shot, I was going to be sent away to a camp, if they caught me, and- I started laughing. My brain had finally processed everything. My friends had run as well. They were Mutants too. This whole time, and none of us realized that our best friends were Mutants. I couldn't help it. I just found it funny.

"Raise your hand if you're a Mutant." Paul said. That really made me laugh, though at some point the laughter turned into less an expression of amusement, as a way of hiding from the situation.

Everyone, except Kevin of course, raised their hands. Gwen naturally assumed control. She'd told me once that she liked playing her character in Masquerade because then she got to be a leader, and she'd never considered herself a leader.

It made me smile to think that she became a leader so easily, and didn't realize it. She asked each of us what our powers were, and then Paul explained what had happened upstairs.

Kevin looked hugely disappointed in Gwen, and I didn't blame him. He was her boyfriend, and she'd never told him she was a Mutant. Her defense was that it had never come up. He didn't buy that. He looked at me, with almost the same expression.

"What was I supposed say?" I asked him. "Hi, my name's Michael Kelleher and I'm an unregistered Mutant?"

Eventually he gave up on the guilt trip and went to get some medical supplies so we could take care of Paul's leg. Suddenly, my brain fully kicked back into gear.

"I'm gonna go get Steve." I said, to no one in particular. I stepped out the door, and started heading around the building. Then I realized something. The Agents were armed, and they were trained. I was not a fighter. My power was underdeveloped, and, as I thought at the time, not of much use. Fortunately, I had friends who had much better powers than I did. I turned to see who had come to back me up.

No one. Great. Just beautiful. "Steve you'd better appreciate this."

* * *

Steve Ross awoke to a splitting headache. Probably as a result of being pistol whipped twice. He opened his eyes, and found himself staring down the barrel of an automatic assault rifle. Without moving, he began melting through the handcuffs, to free his hands. He had a plan.

* * *

Submitted for your approval. One, Michael Kelleher. All his life he's wanted excitement, and adventure. Tonight Mr. Kelleher is going to learn that one must be careful what they wish for. Because tonight he's about to enter The Twilight Zone. Doo doo, doo doo. Doo doo, doo doo. Okay so maybe things weren't quite that weird, but it seemed like the kind of moral they'd have on that show. I'd reached the van, and was standing at the back. I had no plan. I had no clue what to do in the slightest.

"I'm an actor." I thought. "Not a commando."

"All right, I'm an actor. What does an actor do when they don't have a script? IMPROVISE!" I actually smiled. Whee.

* * *

Paul swore as they began treating his leg. Then smiled a goofy smile as the morphine finally took effect.

"So what do we do?" Gwen asked Kevin and Trevor. "You guys are the Boy Scouts."

"We need to stop the bleeding." Trevor said. "That's the most important thing."

"Then we need a good cover story for the hospital." Kevin muttered.

Casey continued to stare out the window. "Where are they?" he muttered.

Gwen sighed, and let down the shields she usually had automatically erected. She heard many whispers as those around spoke to her. She tried to only tune into the ones that had something relevant to say. "Shut up!" she thought. "Where are the agents?"

The spirits that most wanted to be helpful immediately did a complete search of the building. They told her that the Agents were searching the building, doing a complete sweep of the upper floor.

She quickly related what she'd been told to the others.

Casey turned and looked worriedly at Paul. "Hope Mike's okay."

Kevin blanched. "Holy shit, Mike! He went out there alone!" He charged out of the door, hoping he wasn't too late to lend a hand.

Paul began to come down slightly from the morphine. Not enough to really feel the pain, but enough to begin thinking again. There was nothing they could do now but wait for Mike and Kevin to return with Steve. If they returned at all. If the Agents didn't come first.

Absently, Paul began relating the story of his first usage of his power. The others listened, and began to feel a new kinship with each other. When he finished his story, one of the others took up the tale, and so on, and so on.

* * *

The van driver was surprised to hear someone knocking on his window. He drew a hand gun and opened the door, carefully.

Behind him, the Agent guarding Steve turned his head slightly. "What's wrong?"

"Don't know yet. Hold on." He stepped from the van, seeing nothing. Then he heard gravel scuff from behind the van.

* * *

Okay, the driver was out. Phase one, distract the driver. Phase two…Phase three, profit. Always with the jokes. That's me. Now what? A quick scuff of the foot got him coming in my direction, which, suddenly, I wasn't sure I wanted. But too late now.

I'd lost my faith in a lot of things in recent years. The church for one. But I never lost my faith in God. I'd just changed the name I called him. Or her. Or whatever. That's not a debate I care to get into at the moment. Suffice to say I still believed in something. Just not myself.

"God, Goddess, whatever you are, please let this work."

The Agent came around the van, gun at the ready. I grabbed the gun. I struggled for it. The man was stronger than I was. He was better trained. But somehow, I'll never know how, I got the gun out of his hands. I thought; "Okay, good, now I've got the gun. Luck of the Irish I guess. Now what?"

Seems that good luck can come in twos. Somehow I managed to club him on the head with the gun, and knock him out.

Well shit. That was unexpected. I smiled, relieved, and almost forgot about the fact that there were more of the bastards. Almost. I probably would have collapsed in relief, if I hadn't at that moment heard agonizing screams from inside the van, and a gunshot.

* * *

The sounds of struggle from outside the van, distracted the Agent covering Steve. Just enough for him to look away. Which was when Steve threw the ball of fire he'd been holding behind his back, into the Agent's face. The man screamed in horrible pain, and tried to shoot Steve. He missed. Then Steve did something he never thought he'd ever do. He engulfed the man in flame.

* * *

I couldn't bring myself to open the side door of the van. So Kevin did. That scared the shit out of me. I hadn't even noticed him come up. I noticed he had some handcuffs and a wallet that wasn't his own. He'd cleaned out the guy I'd just clubbed. Hey whatever boats your float.

I think maybe Steve had shut down. I mean, as shocked as I was at seeing a real live, er, strike that, a real dead charred corpse, Steve's shock must have been a thousand times worse. Cause He's the guy that made the real, dead charred corpse.

"Oh shit." That seemed to be my catch phrase of the evening. I shut down again. Personally, I was getting a bit tired of doing that. Too bad my brain wasn't in a cooperative mood.

So anyway, we went back to our hiding place, and actually came up with a plan. One involving me. Gosh it's nice to be important. See, I'd heard the Driver's voice, meaning I could copy it. And we had the guy's ID, so, in theory, I could bluff MCA headquarters into believing that there were no Mutants here. So, back to the van. I was seeing a lot of that van. Kevin went with me, while the others stayed behind. There was a problem, which I discovered when I came in sight of the van.

The other Agents were back. This was a bad thing. Fortunately, a quick shout of "Hey Mutie!" Projected into the woods, soon drew them away. Now then, time for acting.

All in all, I think I put on a wonderful performance. I didn't panic when they didn't buy it the first or second times. Though I was certainly willing too. But in the end, they bought it. Course after such constant copying of someone's voice, I was a bit hoarse, but other than that, it went off without a hitch. Now we just had to deal with three, very angry, and armed, Agents. Probably ones who'd switched to "shoot to kill" mode.

And so we were back in the "what now?" phase of the evening. To be honest, I don't remember what we eventually came up with. Something about making it look like the van was in an accident or something. I do know we tied up the driver, and Gwen interrogated the dead Agent. That's how we found out why we were reported.

Then came the sirens. Great. As if we didn't enough problems. The ambulance for the injured Agents had arrived. Trevor headed off to deal with them. And Kevin, God knows why, decided to draw off the remaining Agents.

* * *

Trevor found the paramedics loading the Agent who'd been electrocuted by Paul, into the ambulance.

"Good lord," he said, approaching nonchalantly, as if he was just a passing student. "What happened here?"

"Oh nothing to worry about." The driver of the ambulance assured him. "Guy touched an uninsulated wire or something."

Trevor knew that if they succeeded in getting the man to the hospital, he might contact his superiors. Of course, maybe he would die, in which case-He stopped himself, shocked that he would even think such a thing. And yet, in spite of that, he asked;

"Is he gonna be all right?"

"If we get him to the hospital right away I'm sure he'll be fine." The driver replied. By now, the paramedics had loaded the man into the back. The driver, seeing that all was secure, started the siren, and turned to bid farewell to Trevor.

Moving so fast that the driver didn't even see him move, Trevor ran to the side of the vehicle, popped one of the tires, and returned to his position. The driver swore, and quickly called for another ambulance. Satisfied that he had bought himself and his friends some time, Trevor went off to see how Kevin was doing. When he was gone, the ambulance driver, who'd been deliberately trying not to scare the boy, also asked for an update on the police cruisers that were supposed to arrive.

* * *

"MCA! Freeze!"

Kevin froze, raising his hands in the air. He swore mentally. He'd hoped he'd be able to get them farther away before they caught him.

"Hands behind your head! Now!"

Tensely, Kevin obeyed. He was soon searched, and stripped of everything he'd taken off the van driver.

"You're under arrest for aiding and abetting unregistered Mutants." The Agent began, while the other, who'd just arrived, began to put the handcuffs on him. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say-"

Kevin lashed out at the man with the cuffs, hitting him in the head. The one behind him swung with his rifle, intending to club the boy in the head. Kevin barely managed to dodge, grabbing the Agent's arm. He pulled the Agent off balance. He'd only meant to knock the man into his fellow Agent, and give himself time to get away. But the other man backed away, letting his companion fall. The falling Agent's head slammed into the corner of a brick window sill, cracking his skull, splitting skin, and snapping his neck.

Kevin could do nothing but gape at what he'd done. Which left him completely open to an attack by the remaining Agent. Who, though just as shocked as Kevin, was able to shake himself out of it in time to act.

Fortunately for Kevin, Trevor's mutant speed was faster than the Agent's trigger finger. After taking care of the ambulance, he'd searched out his friend, and found him about to be shot. He ran to the scene, faster than he'd ever run before, and clotheslined the Agent. At the speed he was running, he'd built up so much momentum, that the impact crushed the man's windpipe, killing him instantly.

* * *

Now, if you're like me, and few are, you're hoping this is almost over. Either because it's such a horrible thing to go through, or because you don't like my writing. Well hell, I'm an actor not a writer. But fortunately, it is almost over.

We met back up with our friends, who, to our shock, were tearing up their Eagle Scout cards. I mean, who carries that around in their wallet? It was about then, that the first Agent to show up that night, the one who'd tried to scan Paul, and who'd been shot in the face with electricity, finally showed up again. He'd developed this weird twitch, probably from being electrocuted.

There's not a whole lot to tell here. We tried to intimidate him, he tried to intimidate us, he shot at us, we beat him up. He didn't go down easily. Not at all. Gwen finally just had one of her ever present ghosts haunt him, and we left.

Because by this time, the extra ambulance, and the police had arrived. None of us particularly wanted to deal with that, so we went to Dennys.

The End. For Now.


End file.
